“The people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions, and all else, now meddles no more and longs eagerly for just two things — bread and circuses!”

—  Juvenal , book Satires

Nam qui dabat olim
imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se
continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat,
panem et circenses.
X, line 78; see bread and circuses.
Satires, Satire X

Original

Nam qui dabat olim imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat, panem et circenses.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 1, 2023. History

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From Ben Moreell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Moreell, " Of Bread and Circuses http://fee.org/freeman/of-bread-and-circuses/", The Freeman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Freeman, January 1956, pp. 29–32 https://www.unz.org/Pub/Freeman-1956jan-00029. The quotation is from the left column of p. 31 in the original publication. Moreell's piece makes no mention of Cicero, but opens with a correct attribution of the phrase " Bread and circuses https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses" to Juvenal.
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